Jesus: The Descending God

We are currently in a sermon series entitled “All About Jesus. This series will take us to Easter. We are using a book by one of the great theologians and spiritualists throughout the 1900s named Henri Nouwen entitled “letters to Marc about Jesus.”

He wrote these letters to his nephew to explain to him the important roles that Jesus plays in his life. We have been using the concepts from his book to look at the various ways that what Jesus did impacted the Jewish and Gentile societies at that time and also should impact us today.

This week is powerful because we are focusing on how Jesus as a God chose to give up his benefits as a God to come down to reside with humanity. We are seeing Jesus as “the Descending God.” Our scripture comes from Mark 14:32-36.

32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”

35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Please pray with me…

The Apostles’ Creed is one of the most known liturgies or statements of faith that we find within the church. It is believed to be the statement of faith that a new believer would make just before they were baptized to express their belief in God through Jesus.

The first part of the Apostles’ Creed leads us to where we are so far in our journey towards Easter. This creed that in some form existed as early as 390 reminds us that we believe in God the Father almighty and in Jesus Christ his only begotten son our Lord who was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate and was crucified.

This is easy to say and can be seen as somewhat easy to believe, but more than anything else, the choice Jesus made should amaze each one of us. In the book, “Letters to Marc,” Henri Nouwen says that the love of Jesus is made visible to us in the descending way.

He calls it “the great mystery of the Incarnation.” In case you haven’t heard of the term “Incarnation,” it is speaking of Jesus coming down into human form. Nouwen continues on saying “God has descended to us human beings to become a human being with us; and once among us, he descended to the total dereliction of one condemned to death.”

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First Jesus sacrifices himself by removing his godly form to reside with us. then he takes the additional step and sacrifices himself for us by allowing humanity to kill him so that he can save us. This is a decision for us that no other god before had ever made.

We have spoken many times of how humans were to sacrifice themselves for their gods. It was not the gods’ responsibility to do anything specific for humanity. Our God chose to change the rules and to be the one who is making the sacrifice.

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Jesus chose to be placed into a destructible body. He arrived onto earth the same way each one of us has, as a baby. A baby that has to rely on others to take care of it. A baby that can’t survive without the loving care of a parent.

Jesus chose to be vulnerable. He chose to rely on humans. He chose to need to have someone feed him and protect him. God came down and relied on humans to keep him alive.

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Jesus also chose to be treated like everyone else after he was no longer reliant on the loving care of his parents. He chose to go through all the things that humans go through. He decided to be as human as possible, to live as if he was no different than each one of us.

But he was different, he went through his childhood and early adulthood without sin. He made the correct choices throughout his life. But he still chose to follow the ways of the sinful even to the point of being baptized by John the Baptist.

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John the Baptist is out in the wilderness preaching a gospel of repentance. Telling those that would listen that they needed to repent for the kingdom of God was near. Many chose to take him up on his offer. Many decided that it was safer to prepare themselves for the coming than to take the chance that they would be left out.

This leads up to Jesus coming before John and choosing to also be baptized. Not because he needed to repent of anything but because he was human and this is what humans were doing. We can see through the results of his baptism that Jesus was also transformed. We have the Holy Spirit show up and enter into him and become his guide throughout his ministry.

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The Holy Spirit also should be our guide. It is the Holy Spirit that leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted as we spoke of last week. It was the Holy Spirit that seems to lead Jesus on the decisions that he makes throughout his ministry.

Those of us who believe we have been called to full time ministry also believe that we are called by God and it is the Holy Spirit who leads us on that journey. It is why we need to pray to God and listen to the Holy Spirit’s direction.

But that doesn’t leave anyone who is a follower of God off the hook. We find the disciples going from scared to leave the room they were in until they were filled by the Holy Spirit which led them to standing in front of large crowds proclaiming the message given to them by Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is who ends up leading the disciples. We have the Holy Spirit directing Paul in his ministry to the point that Paul states it was the Holy Spirit that stopped him from entering two areas he wanted to go into before leading him to where the Spirit wanted him to go.

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Jesus became our example on how to live our lives with the Holy Spirit guiding us. Paul laid out for us the traits that the Spirit gives to each one of us. These are called the Fruit of the Spirit. They are “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.”

Jesus descended to show us how to live our lives. He showed us through scripture how to live out these traits. Galatians goes on to point out that through living these traits we are “keeping in step with the Spirit.”

This would mean for us that through the way we are living out these traits we are living out our lives connected and following the will of God. Jesus gives us the example of what that looks like in our lives.

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Jesus also chose to have feelings like everyone else. Our scripture reading this morning tells us of his feeling as he is about to pray in the garden. It says in verses 33 and 34 that he was deeply distressed and troubled.

It goes onto say that his “soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” Distressed, troubled, overwhelmed, sorrowful; Have any of you every experienced any of these feelings? Jesus was just like us.

Jesus was someone who had feelings and was affected by those feelings. Our God chose to feel what we feel so he could understand the impact that these feelings have on us. It is one of the reasons why as we spoke of last week that Jesus has compassion for us.

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It is why he can make statements like he did in Matthew chapter 5. We looked at this chapter during our last sermon series. It is because of what he went through after he descended that he was able to offer to us what we call the Beatitudes.

Jesus is able to say that despite what you are going through. No matter how you are feeling spiritually. A person is still able to be blessed. A willingness to follow the God who came down to earth for us allows us to be blessed under all circumstances in our lives.

We can be blessed when we are struggling with our faith, when we are mourning, when we are humble, when we seek a connection with God. When we show mercy to those around us. When we seek to follow the ways of God. When peace and when others hurt us.

No matter where we are in our journey with Jesus, we are able to be blessed by the one who came down to earth to be our example. The one who lived his life to show us what was possible in our own lives.

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Jesus could have chosen to hang out with the elite religious leaders of his time but instead he chose to be with the regular folk. His disciples would not have been considered the best of the best, but they were a group of people who were willing to hear and eventually accept a different way of looking at scripture.

Jesus most likely would have not had the same impact on society if he would have been speaking to the top Jewish students and Rabbis. He would have been run out of town and declared as someone working against God instead of for God by that group.

It was who he chose to associate with that he was able to convey his message of love and compassion for the less fortunate. This leads us to the point that like each one of us when we look at the life of Jesus, we can understand him best when we focus on what was important to him.

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Jesus cared for the those that were marginalized within Jewish society. He cared for the poor, the sick, and the widow. He shows us what we are to do. The mission statement for the United Methodist Church says that we are make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

One of the ways we do that is through being there for others when they are facing a tough time. Helping others in their time of need and assisting them in the way that they need help, not in the way that it may be easy for us to help. Jesus showed us how to care for those that are in need.

We find in our own mission statement a focus on reaching out to those around us and showing the love of God to all people. It is through living out our mission statement that we are living out Jesus’ example to the world.

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Our first reading this morning reminds us of two important traits that we should follow of Jesus. It speaks of Jesus being a servant. Jesus was God but did not take advantage of the power he had. He instead chose to offer us an example of what it means to be a servant of God.

The prayer itself from today’s main reading offers us this, “not what I will, but what you will.” He goes to the cross, serving God, not because he wants to but because God has told his too. We have the same opportunities. We have a God that speaks to us and wants to guide us in a direction that will serve him while also serving us. We need to be willing to have the heart of a servant.

Jesus also humbled himself before God. He was willing to be obedient to his father and allow God’s will to be done. We should also be humble in our actions. We need to acknowledge that our successes come from God. We need to be willing to let all of the glory go to God.

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Nouwen states that we each must decide how God desires for us to live our lives with Jesus as our example. He states that to do so will take “much prayer, much patience, and much guidance.” The point I believe he is trying to make is that we don’t become like Jesus overnight.

We need to be willing to spend time with God. We have to be willing to ask for God to help us know what we need to do to become the person that God desires for us to be. I recognize that this is easier said than done.

Which is why it takes patience. Very few people if anyone becomes who God wants us to be overnight. Jesus fasted and prayed for forty days. Jesus’ disciples spent three years with him and still grew in faith after receiving the Holy Spirit. Paul went away for over a year to prepare for his ministry.

We need to be willing to serve the Lord while also growing in our connection to him. It is why our mission statement includes reaching out to those in our communities while also emphasizing growing in faith together.

We are called both individually and as a church to do both. We are called to serve those that are around us while also growing closer to God each and every day. We have Jesus as our example of how to live this out.

Scripture shows Jesus going to his faither in prayer. Going to the synagogue on the Sabbath. Interacting with a group of fellow followers of God. He lived out what it means to become more connected to his Father each and every day.

He is doing these things while also serving those around him. In his case that means spreading the word of God, healing the sick, removing demons. He cared for those around him while staying connected to his father.

That example was followed by his disciples. They stayed connected with God while also living out their faith to others through word and action. We are called to do the same. We are also called to grow in our faith while helping other learn about Jesus through our words and actions.

Jesus descended from Heaven to save us from the power of sin and to be an example to us on how to best live while being connected to God and showing the love of God to those around us. Let us live out his example.

Let us pray…